A new search portal has been launched by hyperlocal news site Fwix allowing users to access real time, map-based view of what’s going on in a specific location.

Fwix Local Trend Search provides news, events information, government data and business reviews, as well as Fourquare and Gowalla check-ins, on a map of a given area. Users can alter the sphere of their chosen location to access coverage from a large or more localised area.

Darian Shirazi, CEO and founder of Fwix, explained to TechCrunch how the site determines an article’s location:

Fwix’s proprietary technology analyzes and indexes nearly 40 million pieces of content to determine and scan for any reference to location within the text of a document.